Orchard Road’s Birds

A post about birds doesn’t sound exciting, but when I say there are birds in the trees, I mean there are birds in the trees on the scale of Alfred Hitchcock’s old movie, The Birds.

“Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds in 1:40”

As you walk down Orchard Road you can hear them up there.  It sounds as if there are hundreds, if not a thousand or more of them, roosting in the trees, squawking continuously at each other.  I suppose for citizens and long-time residents it sounds like background noise.  The first time I was down there, by Cineleisure Orchard, I thought something weird was going on.  They were so loud, and if you sit and watch long enough you’ll see them moving from tree to tree in groups of a dozen or more.

The most bizarre part of it all is that despite there being so many trees, and so many birds in those trees, I have yet to see a sizable quantity of bird crap on the sidewalks or road.  Orchard Road is a tourist area though, so it wouldn’t surprise me if there are workers out there at night spraying the area clean.  That’s probably a good idea regardless.  An excessive amount of bird feces could be hazardous to your health.  That reminds me of a story from when I was in Iraq, but that can wait til another time.

If you’re reading this from outside Singapore and you happen to find yourself on Orchard Road, especially in the Cineleisure Orchard area, keep your ears peeled and you’re sure to hear them.  After being in Singapore for a while those birds feel more like part of the scenery and make the area more interesting.  I can’t imagine being down there and not hearing them chirping en masse.